Court orders halt to public works project damaging scenery

Japan Press Weekly

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Court orders halt to public works project damaging scenery

The Hiroshima District Court on October 1 ruled in favor of a group of residents opposing a public works project on the grounds that it will destroy the scenic area of Tomonoura which has a 1,000-year history on the Seto Inland Sea.

The judge issued an injunction against the project that involves the building of a bridge requiring the reclamation of part of the Port Tomo in Tomonoura. This is the first court ruling to order the withdrawal of a public works project for the sake of protecting the local scenery.

In April 2007, about 160 residents filed suit against Hiroshima Prefecture and Fukuyama City in opposition to land reclamation for the bridge project.

The court said, "The scenery of Tomonoura on the Seto Inland Sea should be preserved not only because it is in the interest of the public under private law but also because it is in the public interest in the sense that it is a national asset that forms part of the scenery of the Seto Inland Sea. The project will have a seriously adverse effect on the natural environment. Once a reclamation permit is issued, the road to its designation as a World Heritage Site will be closed."

The reclamation project was formulated in 1983, but residents' opposition forced it to be frozen. It resurfaced in 2004, and in June 2008, the Hiroshima Prefectural Government applied to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism for a license to begin land reclamation and the construction of the bridge.

Commenting on the ruling, Oi Mikio, a leader of the plaintiffs' group, and Mizuno Takeo, chief of the lawyers' bench, issued a statement emphasizing the historic significance of the ruling.

It was this scenery of Tomonoura that inspired Academy Award-winning director Miyazaki Hayao to develop the idea (while staying there for two months) for his animated movie "Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea".

Welcoming the ruling, Nihi Sohei, Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors, stated, "The district court ruling is an epoch-making residents' victory. This victory was made possible by the demand raised from inside and outside of the country as expressed in the 135,000 signatures collected in the petition drive calling for the area to be designated as a World Heritage site and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)'s recommendations of a halt to the construction project as well as by the film 'Ponyo'."

"The local governments concerned must accept the ruling to scrap the project," Nihi added.

- Akahata, October 2, 2009